Today in History

October 1

1800 - Spain cedes Louisiana to France in a secret treaty.

1838 - The first Anglo-Afghan War begins.

1890 - Yosemite National Park is established in California.

1927 - Russian-Persian nonaggression pact is signed.

1940 - America’s first toll superhighway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, opens to traffic.

1963 - Nigeria becomes republic within the Commonwealth.

1964 - Japan’s Shinkansen (bullet trains) begin high-speed rail service from Tokyo to Osaka.

1970 - Egypt’s Vice-President Anwar Sadat succeeds the late Jamal Abdul Nasser as president.

1971 - Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.

1980 - Warsaw court gives legal approval to Poland’s first six independent trade unions.

1985 - Israel bombs the Palestine Liberation Organisation headquarters in Tunisia, killing 73 people.

1986 - Former US president Jimmy Carter’s presidential library and museum is dedicated in Atlanta.

1988 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes President of the Soviet Union.

1990 - Minority Serbs in Croatia proclaim autonomy.

1992 - Vice-President Itamar Franco takes over from Brazil’s impeached President Fernando Collor de Mello.

1996 - The UN Security Council lifts sanctions against Yugoslavia in recognition of Serbia’s role in helping bring peace to Bosnia.

1997 - The founder of Hamas, Shaikh Ahmad Yassin, is released from Israel’s Ayalon prison and flown to Amman, Jordan.

1998 - Europol, Europe’s crossborder police force, officially begins operation.

2005 - Twin bombings rip through restaurants in Bali, Indonesia, killing at least 22 people.

2008 - US Congress approves a landmark nuclear energy deal with India.

2012 - Two ferries collide near Lamma Island in Hong Kong, killing 37 people.

2013 - American spy and military thriller best-seller author Tom Clancy died at the age of 66.

2014 - At least 41 Syrian children aged under 12 are killed in a double bombing at a school in Homs.